Features

(Submission savant Megumi Fujii. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

When "Carano vs. Cyborg" pulled in 856,000 viewers on Showtime, it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that there could be a market for women's MMA outside of Japanese all-girl leagues and one-off fights in the U.S. Strikeforce and Bellator are both planning high-profile women's tournaments, and 2010 could be the year that women finally gain some measure of equality in the sport. In honor of the coming revolution, we've launched a top 5 women's pound-for-pound list in our Power Rankings section; get to know these warriors below, and let us know what you think.

*****

1: Megumi Fujii (18-0)
Armed with grappling credentials that include two BJJ championships at the Pan American Games and nine All-Japan Sambo titles, Fujii has tapped 15 of her 18 opponents during her five-year MMA career, and outpointed the other three. Her relentless, inventive ground attack is reminiscent of Kazushi Sakuraba in his prime, and at just 115 pounds, the 35-year-old packs more talent per ounce than any other woman in the world. In a sport where retiring undefeated is a mythical feat, Fujii just might pull it off.
Watch this: Fujii's "Alive" and "Hurt" highlight reels.

2: Tara LaRosa (17-1)

Though Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg draw more attention, hardcore fans know that Tara LaRosa is the most talented female fighter our country has to offer. The former women's bantamweight champ of BodogFight, LaRosa has run through a who's who of U.S. talent including Roxanne Modafferi, Amanda Buckner, Shayna Baszler, and Kelly Kobold. She hasn't lost since 2003, and she's finished her last seven fights by stoppage. The word is that she'll be competing next in a women's 125-pound tournament for Bellator; if that works out, get ready for a whole new batch of YouTube highlights.
Watch this: Tara LaRosa vs. Shayna Baszler

(How do you say "Don't be scared, homey" in Armenian? Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Following recent action in the UFC, Strikeforce, and Sengoku, we've updated the lightweight, welterweight, light-heavyweight, heavyweight, and pound-for-pound lists in our Power Rankings section. First, a word about the P4P top ten...

Can we all agree that Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, and Georges St. Pierre are the three best fighters in the world right now, and any attempt to rank them is completely subjective, and therefore meaningless? Instead of creating a three-way tie at the top (which I briefly considered), we're going to do it like this until further notice: Whoever has the most recent awe-inspiring, damn-near-inhuman performance gets to be #1.

(Whoa, whoa, Cyborg. Didn't Strikeforce ask you very nicely to refrain from messing up Gina's face if possible? The girl's got to make a living after this.)

Where do this weekend's Strikeforce participants stand after their crushing defeats and triumphant victories?  Let's consult the Potato Index's arbitrary numerical rankings system to see whose stock fell and whose is on the rise.

“Cyborg” Santos +236
She absolutely overwhelmed Carano with her power and aggression.  A little sloppiness and a couple of failed takedown attempts show she still has room for improvement, but she came up big in the most important fight in the history of women’s MMA.  Let’s see how many people tune in to see her next fight before we decide what kind of future there is for female main events.

Gina Carano -131
The face of women’s MMA took a beating on Saturday night, but what does it mean for her celebrity and the popularity of the women’s division?  That’s still unclear, but at least we found out what happens when Carano has to face a real striker.  Maybe fewer photo shoots and more time in the gym would have helped?

('Let's talk about boys!')

With Strikeforce's big Gina Carano vs. "Cyborg" Santos main event on Showtime just a day away, we go head-to-head to determine just how unmissable this card is after all the injuries, whether Nick Diaz has hurt our feelings for good, and more in this edition of Ben vs. Ben.

After all the injuries and changes to the line-up, where does this Strikeforce card rank on your must-see MMA spectrum?

BF: If we’re looking at a 10-point scale, with 10 being UFC 100 and 1 being YAMMA Pit Fighting, I give the current iteration of this Strikeforce card a 6.5.  Originally it was probably at least an eight, maybe even a nine.  Then it lost Overeem, Thomson, and Riggs.  Then it actually got a little better when Jay Hieron stepped in.  Then Nick Diaz declined to even submit to a piss test and, well, this is where we find ourselves now.  

(The temptation to suggest a tickle fight for the belt must have been damn near overwhelming for Scott Coker.)

As Strikeforce bravely soldiers on toward what was supposed to be an epic event on Showtime before being brought back down to earth via a gypsy curse, it’s time we take a look at the fights oddsmakers are still offering betting lines on.  With Jesse Taylor in as a replacement for Nick Diaz against Jay Hieron, most online bookmakers are staying away from it at the moment.  Either they feel poet laureate “JT Money” is too much of an unknown quantity as a last-minute replacement, or they just assume that Nick Diaz will show up on fight night, stoned out of his mind, and refuse to allow this fight to go on without him.  We’re hoping for the latter.

The most favorable lines on the internet come to us courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Gina Carano (+161) vs. Cris “Cyborg” Santos (-170)
Renato “Babalu” Sobral (+200) vs. Gegard Mousasi (-205)
Mitsuhiro Ishida (+200) vs. Gilbert Melendez (-215)
Mike Kyle (+435) vs. Fabricio Werdum (-515)

The breakdown…